Commentaries
Synod not about a final report, but changing how we listen
The current global synod underway in the church is more about the journey than the destination -- like the Gospel encounter on the road to Emmaus -- writes Matthew Gambino. It's a permanent countercultural trait that is beginning now.
The joy of encouraging vocations, at any age
During National Vocations Awareness Week, Sister Constance Veit says that living youthfully with a smile is the best way of attracting young people to religious life.
Homelessness and the ministry of witness
Priests, like Father Eric Banecker, and faithful Catholics must be more present and visible so that homeless people can see they have a home in the household of God, which is the church.
The church’s teaching on war and peace
A expert on Catholic social teaching sketches the papal and episcopal statements of recent years as well as documents including those of Vatican II that called for an "evaluation of war with an entirely new attitude."
This holiday season, remember it’s not about you
Last year's holiday restrictions give perspective for making this year a delight, not a disaster, at the holiday table. Laura Kelly Fanucci's own family tragedy leads her to the wisdom that the more mercy we bring to the table for others, the more we will find for ourselves.
At baptism, you were sent on a mission — meet your co-workers
Meghan Cokeley, director of the archdiocesan Office for the New Evangelization, introduces Paola Herrera as the new associate director, and explains the mission of all baptized Catholics to share their love of Jesus and zeal for his saving work.
Halloween, All Saints’ and All Souls’ point to ‘thin places’
It's the time of year when the veil separating this world with the next seems porous, writes Effie Caldarola, who on a chilly autumn walk considers the holy ones in her life.
Just how partisan is the Supreme Court?
Among the issues of a too-conservative or too-liberal court faces, abortion is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, writes Richard Doerflinger. He traces its legal, and partisan, fault lines.
The hypocrisy of the federal spending debate
Sister Karen Donahue gets angry when lawmakers denigrate low- and middle-income Americans as “moochers,” while proposed spending on social programs would cost half, at most, of the $7.7 trillion in military spending over a decade.
My 32 years of ministering to the ‘good children’
Father Dennis Weber reflects on the privilege of his ministry to persons with intellectual disabilities at Don Guanella and Divine Providence Village. He finds people with Down syndrome are very happy, even as they are becoming victims of a new genocide.